Texas Defender Service
@texasdefender.bsky.social
We fight for the end of mass incarceration and excessive punishment in Texas through direct representation, policy reform, and public education.
There are still 25 people facing execution in Alabama, even though their juries voted for life without parole. In a practice that since been abolished, trial judges overrode each jury's decision. @eji.org
Despite Jury Verdicts for Life, People in Alabama Still Face Execution
25 people face execution in Alabama whose juries voted for life.
eji.org
202 people have been exonerated from death row since 1973, across 30 states. 65% of exonerees are people of color. More than half are Black. @deathpenaltyinfo.org
What to Know: Innocence and the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
Of the 202 total death row exonerations, at least 144, or roughly 70%, involved prosecutorial misconduct specifically. @deathpenaltyinfo.org
What to Know: Prosecutorial Misconduct and the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
We are grateful that after an in-depth review of the evidence, the Travis County DA's Office now agrees TDS client Mr. Highfill was wrongfully convicted of capital murder. www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/two-people-charged-in-1998-murder-the-one-who-pulled-the-trigger-got-a-shorter-sentence-what-now/
According to court records, a woman named Rebecca Walton admitted to shooting and killing Flores and said Highfill was not involved in the actual killing act. https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/two-people-charged-in-1998-murder-the-one-who-pulled-the-trigger-got-a-shorter-sentence-what-now/
‘He was stabbed wide open’: Family of Tony Carruthers files complaint against doctor over failed Tennessee execution attempt:
‘He was stabbed wide open’: Family of Tony Carruthers files complaint against doctor over failed Tennessee execution attempt
Nearly two months after the scheduled execution of Tony Carruthers was called off, the family of the death row inmate has filed a complaint against the doctor involved in the failed execution.
wkrn.com
For the first time in 60 years, Florida is scheduling two executions for the same day: one for a former police officer and one for an 80-year-old man. #EndTheDeathPenalty
2 executions scheduled for same day in Florida for the first time in more than 60 years
The state of Florida is set to execute two death row inmates on the same day for the first time in more than 60 years, now that a stay has been lifted for a former police officer who had been scheduled to die earlier his year
abcnews.com
The death penalty is often supported as abstract, affecting “monsters” who've committed the worst crimes. In reality, it is imposed on human beings with a life, relatives, hobbies, dreams, and setbacks –not on abstractions.
24th World Day Against the Death Penalty – Stories for Life - WCADP
Observed every 10 October, the World Day Against the Death Penalty unifies the global abolitionist movement and mobilizes civil society, political leaders, lawyers, public opinion and more to support the call for the universal abolition of capital punishment. On 10 October 2026 and 2027, the World Day will be dedicated to humanizing the people affected by the Death Penalty, focusing on the stories of the human beings affected by the death penalty whose voices are too often neglected or silenced.
tinyurl.com
Jailhouse informant testimony has contributed to many wrongful convictions and has helped send innocent people to death row. Read more of the article by @pamelacolloff.bsky.social here:
Opinion | He had an incentive to lie. Then he testified in 37 cases.
Jailhouse testimony can earn witnesses a lighter sentence. Is that a problem?
washingtonpost.com
Sign the petition to prevent an innocent man from facing execution. actionnetwork.org/petitions/florida-dont-execute-ernest-suggs-an-innocent-man-on-death-row?nowrapper=true&referrer=&source=
Ernest Suggs was sentenced to death for the murder of his friend. The victim's daughter, Laura Johnson, is one of many people who believes Suggs was wrongfully convicted. Read Laura's opinion piece:
Commentary: I never believed Ernest Suggs killed my mom. Don’t execute him
Ernest Suggs’ trial judge asked for a commutation of sentence, and the daughter of his alleged victim writes that she doesn’t believe he killed her mother. But Suggs remains on death row.
orlandosentinel.com
Dominick Occhicone is scheduled for execution in Florida on July 28. He is nearly 81-years old and would be the oldest person executed in modern state history.
Why Dominick Occhicone’s Execution Raises Extraordinary Concerns - Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Dominick Occhicone is scheduled for execution in Florida on Tuesday, July 28 at 6 pm. Occhicone is nearly 81-years old and will be the oldest person executed in modern state history. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Martha Artzner and is serving a life sentence for the murder of Raymond A...
fadp.org
Research has found the brain’s ability to fully reason, assess risks & check impulses develops until a person’s mid-20s+. ~1/3 of Ohio’s death row prisoners were sentenced before turning 25. @themarshallproject.org www.themarshallproject.org/2026/07/09/ohio-death-penalty-abolish-capital-punishment
Death by firing squad - forensic experts say it can be ‘excruciating’ amid allegations it has been intentionally botched. #EndTheDeathPenalty @theguardian.com @edpilkington.bsky.social
Death by firing squad: archaic method on the rise in US as Idaho opens new execution chamber
Supporters of the method say it’s foolproof – but forensic experts say it can be ‘excruciating’ amid allegations it has been intentionally botched
theguardian.com
Ex-Oklahoma inmate who was nearly executed 3 times has new murder trial set a month after being released; the attorney general is not pursuing the death penalty. #EndTheDeathPenalty
Ex-Oklahoma inmate who was nearly executed 3 times has new murder trial set a month after being released
A new murder trial is scheduled for Richard Glossip, a former Oklahoma death row inmate who was released on bond last month after being on the brink of execution three times.
cbsnews.com
Read this incredible article by @pamelacolloff.bsky.social in @nytimes.com about the record-breaking number of death row executions in Florida. #EndTheDeathPenalty
Why Is Florida Executing So Many Prisoners? (Gift Article)
In most of the country, executions are a thing of the past. But one state has been carrying them out at a record pace.
nytimes.com
Walls was the 19th man put to death that year. The Sunshine State accounted for 40 percent of all executions in the United States in 2025. @propublica.org @pamelacolloff.bsky.social
Florida Is Executing Prisoners at a Record Pace, Even as Most of the U.S. Abandons the Death Penalty
Early last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis began signing death warrants at a faster rate than ever before. What followed was the most intense period of executions the state has carried out in more than eight decades.
propublica.org
The US re-legalized the death penalty 50 years. Is it working? Short answer: no. @marshallprojectguild.org @theguardian.com
The US re-legalized the death penalty 50 years ago. Is it working as intended?
The Marshall Project analyzed over 9,000 death sentences handed down since states brought the punishment back
theguardian.com
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced his opposition to the death penalty on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. The governor helped co-author Ohio's current capital punishment law in 1981.
Mike DeWine co-wrote Ohio’s death penalty law, now he wants to repeal it
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that he opposes the death penalty, ending years of speculation about his views on capital punishment.
cleveland.com
The percentage of Americans who find the death penalty morally unacceptable has risen to 39%. The percentage who find it acceptable has fallen to a record low. @deathpenaltyinfo.org
New Poll Shows More Americans View the Death Penalty as Morally Unacceptable | Death Penalty Information Center
The percentage of Americans who find the death penalty morally unacceptable has risen to 39%, while the percentage who find it acceptable has...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
70-year-old Clarence Jordan resentenced to life in prison after 47 years on death row. He's described as "blind, mute, and confined to a hospital bed or chair." www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/criminal-justice/2026/06/11/554259/clarence-curtis-jordan-compassionate-release-recommendation/
A federal judge compared use of nitrogen hypoxia with barbaric execution methods that haunted the imagination of the framers of the constitution. Alabama wants to use it to execute Jeff Lee. @theguardian.com
Alabama wants to execute a man by nitrogen hypoxia. That is cruel | Austin Sarat
To put it plainly, nitrogen hypoxia kills by starving someone of the oxygen needed to sustain life
theguardian.com
Update on Roberson's innocence case: His attys have filed written arguments & a motion requesting a hearing in the district court; his case was remanded in Oct 2025 to consider whether he deserved relief under Ex parte Roark. Here's the motion: tinyurl.com/bdhtxcb2
150 - Motion for In-Person Hearing.pdf
tinyurl.com
When the juror learned a judge had overturned the recommendation and sentenced Lee to death, it felt devastating, the juror said. “That was my first time realizing that I had wasted my time serving on a jury.” @cnn.com
A jury voted for Jeffery Lee to receive a life sentence. Alabama plans to execute him anyway | CNN
Jeffery Lee faces execution Thursday because a judge overturned a jury’s vote for a life sentence under a since-abolished procedure called judicial override.
cnn.com
Since 1976, clemency has been granted for humanitarian reasons to 369 people sentenced to death, while 1,669 people have been executed. @deathpenaltyinfo.org #EndTheDeathPenalty Learn more about clemency here:
What to Know: Clemency and the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
The death penalty is always cruel. Botched executions show just how inhumane this punishment truly is. Thank you Maria Deliberato from the @aclu.org for bearing witness and sharing this truth.
Opinion | For 90 Minutes, I Watched an Execution Go Horribly Awry
Nothing prepared me to witness the agony that my client experienced in the execution chamber.
nytimes.com
'This “troubling case history…by the same district attorney in the same judicial district” was well known when Mr. Pitchford’s case reached the Mississippi Supreme Court.' @eji.org Read more here:
Supreme Court Rules for Man on Mississippi Death Row in Racial Bias Case
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Terry Pitchford.
eji.org
Check out Cory Session's important new op-ed in @thebarbedwire.com about TDS's report on Tarrant County and its extreme use of the death penalty.
Texas County Pursues Death Penalty ‘Almost Exclusively’ Against People of Color, Report Shows. We Have an Opportunity to Change That.
A new report concludes Tarrant County is an “extreme outlier” in its unfair targeting of racial and ethnic minorities for the death penalty.
thebarbedwire.com
From crime survivor Jennifer Thompson @washingtonpost.com on “hypnotized witness” #CharlesFlores TX death penalty case. #SCOTUS “has the power to intervene & ensure an innocent man is not executed based on an unreliable identification.” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Police hypnotized a witness. Now a Texas man faces death.
My honest error once sent a man to prison. Now I’m fighting to save another innocent man.
washingtonpost.com
City of Austin to Pay $35 Million to Compensate Men Wrongfully Convicted in Decades-Old Murder Case #deathpenalty #texas #wrongfulconviction deathpenaltyinfo.org/city-of-aust...
City of Austin to Pay $35 Million to Compensate Men Wrongfully Convicted in Decades-Old Murder Case | Death Penalty Information Center
On May 13, 2026, the city of Austin, Texas agreed to pay $35 million in compensation to four men — three surviving and one deceased — who spent...
deathpenaltyinfo.org